


In the Gloaming

by Maverick



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 12:42:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1649024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene from Siege III</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Gloaming

**Author's Note:**

> Written for sga_flashfic. Buildings and Food Challenge
> 
> After further viewing of the episode it appears that hardly any time has gone by between the beginning of the bombardment against the shield and the meeting to decide what do to next. For the sake of this story let’s pretend a few hours have elapsed.
> 
> Thanks to **cheights** for her usual stellar beta. 

  
"Tell Dr. Weir, thanks so much. Too bad I couldn't get this kind of service when I was installing the ZedPM. Speaking of which, what kind of thanks is this? I saved the city and I get put to bed like a four year old." 

When Rodney saw the marine wasn't leaving, he thought the door closed and toed off his shoes before even looking around the room. He jumped a little when he heard John say, "Elizabeth knows you, Rodney. She knows you won't stop unless someone makes you."  
  
John was stretched out on Rodney's bed, his long legs crossed at the ankles, and his hands were clasped behind his head serving as a pillow against the wall behind him. He'd obviously been there for a while as his shoes were off, and his boots, vest and duffle bag were on the floor next to the bed. His black shirt was rucked up slightly leaving an exposed area of skin just below the belly button that made Rodney's mouth water. He almost reached down to touch that skin, to confirm that Sheppard was real, that he was alive to be sprawling on his bed. And then the anger slammed into him not unlike how those Wraith bombs were hitting the shield above them. "What are you doing here? Just because the city likes you best is no reason to break into my room."  
  
John shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Well Elizabeth told us all to get some rest. So I'm resting."  
  
Pacing around the room, Rodney removed his watch and set it on his desk. "In my room? This still is *my* room, correct?"  
  
John nodded and stretched out even more, the exposed snatch of skin growing exponentially. "Well it seems there's a big crater in my room. Makes getting up and going to the can a little more interesting than I'm up to at the moment." Removing his hand from behind his head, John idly scratched his stomach.  
  
Leaning back against the door, Rodney pressed his palms into his eyes to stop from staring at John's exposed belly. "And this is my problem, why?"  
  
John folded his arms across his chest. "Come on Rodney, I know you're pissed at me, but I also know that deep down you understand why I did it."  
  
Rodney started talking before John had even finished. "You know I've been..." he paused when his brain caught up with his mouth. Something in John's voice made Rodney look at him. Really look at him. Not just the lean muscle or relaxed pose. But *at* him. He could see tired eyes, a match to his own, and even the three-day-old stubble could not hide the underlying worry that John normally kept so easily masked. They had both been through so much. He'd just have to be pissed at the other man later. Much later.  
  
He walked over to the bed and slumped down. "Oh the hell with it. Move over."  
  
John smiled and rolled onto his side, letting Rodney lay down on his back beside him. "I can do that."  
  
Rodney turned his head to look at John. "This does not mean you're off the hook. Not by a long shot. It just means I'm too damn tired to yell at you at the moment."  
  
Propping himself up on one elbow, John slid his other hand across Rodney's shoulders. "I'll take what I can get. Would it help if I tell you, I come bearing gifts?"  
  
Rodney snorted. "If that's some lame euphemism for your dick, as much as it depresses me to say so, I'm not interested."  
  
John raised an eyebrow.  
  
Rodney smiled for the first time since he entered the room. "Okay, I'm interested but right now, I'm too damn tired."  
  
John whispered into Rodney's ear. "Not to worry Rodney, I'm not exactly up to sex at the moment either. Although..."  
  
Rodney pulled his head back to look at John's face. "What?"  
  
"I do expect a rain check on the 'oh my God, we didn't die' shenanigans, you know if we still don't die."  
  
Rodney couldn't help himself. "Good luck with that. You might have a better chance with someone you didn't casually blow off with a 'so long Rodney' before you took a page from the Kamikaze for Dummies book."  
  
John frowned. "I thought you didn't have the energy."  
  
"What can I say? I keep finding reserves I didn't know I have."  
  
"I am sorry Rodney."  
  
It was Rodney's turn to frown. "Don't want to hear it."  
  
John nodded, a look of resignation on his face. "Does that mean you don't want the gift?"  
  
Rodney hated that he'd put that look there, but he knew it wouldn't be the last time he'd strike out. But he figured he owed it to John to at least give him a break for a while. Rolling onto his side, he mirrored John's position. "I don't know? Is it a fully charged ZedPM?"  
  
John shook his head. "Sorry, nothing quite that grand."  
  
"What then?"  
  
Turning away from Rodney, John reached down into his duffle bag beside the bed and pulled out four cellophane wrapped packages. He turned back and said, "oatmeal pies."  
  
Rodney grabbed one from John's hand. "With cream filling?"  
  
John smiled. "Yes, with cream filling."  
  
Rodney had half the cookie gone before he looked over at John. "Where did you..." he stopped and swallowed. "Oh the Daedalus." He finished the first one and picked up a second. "Isn't Colonel Caldwell going to be pissed that you raided their galley?"  
  
"He's a little busy being pissed that my plan got his ship damaged."  
  
Rodney continued to talk around the pie. "And that was your fault, how?"  
  
John just shrugged.  
  
"Gotta love the military. Present company excluded of course." Rodney sat the last two cookies on the nightstand. "Thank you for the cookies. I'm still going to yell at you when it's all said and done, but I'll try and make it easy on you."  
  
John smiled. "I didn't bring them to bribe you."  
  
It was Rodney's turn to raise an eyebrow.  
  
"Okay, maybe I did."  
  
Rodney reached out letting his fingers finally graze across the exposed skin of John's stomach. He left his hand there. "It's all right. I know I'm easy."  
  
John put his hand over Rodney's. "Nothing's easy about you, McKay."  
  
Rodney smiled wide at that.  
  
"You've got a little," John said pointing to the corner of Rodney's mouth.  
  
Rodney flicked his tongue out to remove the cookie remnants. "Did I get it?"  
  
John shook his head before leaning in and pressing his mouth to Rodney's.  
  
Rodney shuddered as John ran his tongue around his lips before letting it dart inside his mouth. And not for the first time, Rodney was convinced that John kissed like he flew the jumper, with such intensity, bravado and ownership that there was no way Rodney could resist the rightness of it.  
  
John pulled back and nuzzled Rodney's neck. Running his hand across Rodney's chest, he splayed his fingers across his heart and smiled against the other man's jaw. "You sure you're not up for the sex? Your engine's revving pretty high."  
  
Rodney put his hand over John's and pulled back to look at his face. "Hate to burst your bubble there, Major. But this time it's not you that's got my heart beating like that."  
  
John cocked his head and waited for the explanation.  
  
"It's one of the residual effects of the shot that Carson gave me to keep me awake. It's been like that going on three days now."  
  
John's face went white with horror. It was the same look he'd had when he saw what had happened to Ford. Sitting upright on the bed, John swung his feet off the side and stood up, extending a hand to Rodney. "Jesus Christ McKay, that can't be good. You need to go see Beckett."  
  
Shaking his head, Rodney pulled John back down on the bed. "No, I don't. It'll pass. It always does." He ran his hand along John's side before leaning in to kiss his jaw. "Besides Carson needs to concentrate on helping Ford."  
  
John curled his body against Rodney's side, hugging him tight. His hand burrowed its way under Rodney's shirt until it rested on his heart once more. "Promise me if it's not better tomorrow, you'll go see him.  
  
"If we're all still here tomorrow, I will. Now will you shut up so we can get to the resting part."  
  
"I can do that."  
  
Rodney was quiet for almost a full minute before he tensed and tried to sit up.  
  
"What?" John asked, his hand still warm against Rodney's chest.  
  
"I should really go check the shield again. I know Elizabeth said to rest, but I'd rather us all not die because the shield failed because we were napping."  
  
John slung his leg over Rodney's and tightened his grip on his shoulders. "Rodney, the shield is fine. You installed the ZPM and activated the shield and as we all know, you never make mistakes."  
  
"But."  
  
John ran his hand across Rodney's chest and stomach in soothing strokes. "You need rest. Then you can save the day," he whispered in Rodney's ear. "Go to sleep. I've got my COM on and I'll wake you if anything happens."  
  
Rodney turned into John's arms and kissed him, before settling back down on his back, hands folded on his stomach. "I'll try, but I don't know if I can sleep," he said with a yawn. It wasn't long before the soothing strokes of John's hand across his chest and belly lulled him to sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Rodney jolted awake with a gasping breath, another side effect of the stimulant Carson had given him. He turned to find John staring at him, his expression a swirl of emotions that Rodney couldn't decipher. He tried to sit up. "What? The Shield?"  
  
  
John shook his head and placed his hand over Rodney's heart again. "I couldn't"  
  
"You couldn't what?"  
  
"I couldn't look at you and do what I had to do."  
  
Rodney nodded. "Because you knew I wouldn't let you do something so completely asinine. I can understand that."  
  
"No, I couldn't look at *you* and do it. I couldn't."  
  
Rodney could see all the answers illuminated on John's face in the twilight. He wanted to be angry, he wanted that barrier in place to buffer himself against the fact that before this was all over, both of them could be in that same sacrificial position again. But he couldn't be angry and he couldn't ignore the gift that John had given him, and he wasn't talking about the oatmeal pies. Rodney pulled John on top of him, wrapping his arms and legs around his lover. "Then, you're forgiven. I'd tell you not to do it again, but I know you can't promise that."  
  
John looked into Rodney's eyes. "Can you live with that?"  
  
Threading his fingers in John's hair, Rodney pulled John's mouth to his. "I'm a genius. I'll learn, but don't expect me to remain silent about it." Rodney could feel John's laugh in his kiss. "It's about time we headed to the briefing, isn't it?"  
  
"Yep, it is," John said after one more kiss. He rolled off of Rodney and the bed with the grace of a gymnast before moving over to the chair after grabbing his boots and vest. He tossed Rodney his watch from the desk behind him. "You going to take the cookies with you?"  
  
Rodney shook his head. "No, I'll keep them here for after we save the galaxy yet again."  
  
John stood and waited by the door. He turned and looked at Rodney. "You're that confident in our success?"  
  
Rodney wanted to be honest, wanted to say, 'no, I'm scared shitless', but he knew that wasn't what John needed to hear. Besides, John was right, they were men of action, they'd figure it out or they'd die trying. And with the Atlantis team working on it, his money was on them figuring it out. He finished putting on his boots and looked up and smiled. Walking over to John, he cupped the other man's jaw in his hand and let his thumb sweep across the stubble. He leaned in and nuzzled John's neck before whispering in his ear. "You'd be amazed at what I'm capable of with oatmeal creme pies as motivation."  
  
"Kind of a secret weapon then. Cool."  
  
"Very cool," Rodney said stepping back as the door slid open. "The only more potent weapon of course being chocolate covered Oreos."  
  
John smiled, his hand brushing along Rodney's arm as they made they're way to the meeting room. "I'll keep that in mind, Rodney."  
  
"You understand, those should only be used in extreme emergencies."  
  
John cocked his eyebrow. "This isn't one of those times?"  
  
"No, this is a walk in the park," he said, walking out onto the balcony with John. They both looked up at the sky, a smear of reds, blues and yellows as the bombs exploded against the shield. "It's pretty, isn't it?"  
  
"Almost. Not quite." 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Author Notes: The last two lines of dialogue were taken directly from the show.  
> 


End file.
